Qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qi or ch'i (Chinese: 气 ; pinyin: qì qì) is

Qi (Ch'i)
believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity.[1][2][3] Qi translates
as "air" and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow".[4]
Qi is the central underlying principle in Chinese traditional medicine and in
Chinese martial arts. The practice of cultivating and balancing qi is called
qigong.
Chinese name
Believers of qi describe it as a vital energy, the flow of which must be balanced Traditional Chinese 氣
for health. Qi is a pseudoscientific, unverified concept,[4][5] which has never
Simplified Chinese 气
been directly observed, and is unrelated to the concept of energy used in
science[6][7][8] (vital energy itself being an abandoned scientific notion).[9]
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin qì

Contents Gwoyeu Romatzyh chih

Wade–Giles ch'i4
Linguistic aspects
Pronunciation and etymology IPA [tɕʰî]
Characters Wu
Meanings
Romanization qi
English borrowing
Hakka
Concept
Philosophical roots
Romanization hi

Role in traditional Chinese medicine Yue: Cantonese

Comparable concepts IPA [hēi]
Religious beliefs Jyutping hei3
Scientific view Southern Min
Practices involving qi
Hokkien POJ khì
Feng shui
Qigong Eastern Min
Martial arts Fuzhou BUC ké
Acupuncture and moxibustion
Middle Chinese
Taoist sexual practices
Middle Chinese khjì
See also
Old Chinese
Notes
References
Baxter–Sagart (2014) *C.qʰəp-s

Further reading Burmese name

External links Burmese အသက်
IPA aasaat
Vietnamese name
Linguistic aspects
Vietnamese alphabet khí
Hán-Nôm 氣
The cultural keyword qì is analyzable in terms of Chinese and Sino-Xenic Thai name
pronunciations. Possible etymologies include the logographs 氣, 气, and 気 with Thai ลมปราณ
various meanings ranging from "vapor" to "anger", and the English loanword qi
RTGS lmprāṇ
or ch'i.
Korean name
Hangul 기
Pronunciation and etymology
Hanja 氣
The logograph 氣 is read with two Chinese pronunciations, the usual qì 氣 "air;
Transcriptions
vital energy" and the rare archaic xì 氣 "to present food" (later disambiguated
with 餼). Revised Romanization gi
McCune–Reischauer ki
Pronunciations of 氣 in modern varieties of Chinese with standardized IPA
Mongolian name
equivalents include: Standard Chinese qì /t͡ɕʰ i/, Wu Chinese qi /t͡ɕʰ i/,
Southern Min khì /kʰ i/, Eastern Min ké /kʰ ɛi/, Standard Cantonese hei3 Mongolian Cyrillic хийг
/hei̯˧/, and Hakka Chinese hi /hi˥/. Mongolian script

Pronunciations of 氣 in Sino-Xenic borrowings include: Japanese ki, Korean gi, Transcriptions

and Vietnamese khi. SASM/GNC khiig

Reconstructions of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA Japanese name

transcription include: /kʰ e̯iH/ (Bernard Karlgren), /kʰ ĭəiH/ (Wang Li), /kʰ iəiH/ Kyūjitai 氣
(Li Rong), /kʰ ɨjH/ (Edwin Pulleyblank), and /kʰ ɨiH/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang).
Shinjitai 気
Reconstructions of the Old Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA Transcriptions
transcription include: /*kʰ ɯds/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang) and /*C.qʰ əp-s/ Romanization ki
(William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart).
Malay name
The etymology of qì interconnects with Kharia kʰis "anger", Sora kissa "move Malay chi
with great effort", Khmer kʰɛs "strive after; endeavor", and Gyalrongic kʰɐs Indonesian name
"anger".[10]
Indonesian chi
Filipino name
Characters Tagalog qi
In the East Asian languages, qì has three logographs: Lao name

氣 is the traditional Chinese character, Korean hanja, and Japanese Lao ຊີວິດ
kyūjitai ("old character form") kanji Khmer name
気 is the Japanese shinjitai ("new character form") kanji
Khmer ឈី
气 is the simplified Chinese character.
Tetum name
In addition, qì 炁 is an uncommon character especially used in writing Daoist
talismans. Historically, the word qì was generally written as 气 until the Han Tetum qi
dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), when it was replaced by the 氣 graph clarified with
mǐ 米 "rice" indicating "steam (rising from rice as it cooks.)"

This primary logograph 气, the earliest written character for qì, consisted of three wavy horizontal lines seen in Shang dynasty (c.
1600–1046 BCE) oracle bone script, Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) bronzeware script and large seal script, and Qin dynasty
(221–206 BCE) small seal script. These oracle, bronze, and seal scripts logographs 气 were used in ancient times as a phonetic
loan character to write qǐ 乞 "plead for; beg; ask" which did not have an early character.
The vast majority of Chinese characters are classified as radical-phonetic characters. Such characters combine a semantically
suggestive "radical characters" with a phonetic element approximating ancient pronunciation. For example, the widely known
word dào 道 "the Dao; the way" graphically combines the "walk" radical 辶 with a shǒu 首 "head" phonetic. Although the
modern dào and shǒu pronunciations are dissimilar, the Old Chinese *lˤuʔ-s 道 and *l̥uʔ-s 首 were alike. The regular script
character qì 氣 is unusual because qì 气 is both the "air radical" and the phonetic, with mǐ 米 "rice" semantically indicating
"steam; vapor".

This qì 气 "air/gas radical" was only used in a few native Chinese characters like yīnyūn 氤氲 "thick mist/smoke", but was also
used to create new scientific characters for gaseous chemical elements. Some examples are based on pronunciations in European
languages: fú 氟 (with a fú 弗 phonetic) "fluorine" and nǎi 氖 (with a nǎi 乃 phonetic) "neon". Others are based on semantics:
qīng 氫 (with a jīng 巠 phonetic, abbreviating qīng 輕 "light-weight") "hydrogen (the lightest element)" and lǜ 氯 (with a lù 彔
phonetic, abbreviating lǜ 綠 "green") "(greenish-yellow) chlorine".

Qì 氣 is the phonetic element in a few characters such as kài 愾 "hate" with the "heart-mind radical" 忄or 心, xì 熂 "set fire to
weeds" with the "fire radical" 火, and xì 餼 "to present food" with the "food radical" 食.

The first Chinese dictionary of characters, the Shuowen Jiezi(121 CE) notes that the primary qì 气 is a pictographic character
depicting 雲气 "cloudy vapors", and that the full 氣 combines 米 "rice" with the phonetic qi 气, meaning 饋客芻米 "present
provisions to guests" (later disambiguated as xì 餼).

Oracle bone script for qì Bronzeware script for qì Large seal script for qì Small seal script for qì,
simplified Chinese
character 气 is based on
it.

Traditional Chinese
character 氣 qì, also
used in Korean hanja. In
Japanese kanji, it was
used until 1946 when it
was simplified to 気.
Meanings
Qi is a polysemous word. The unabridged Chinese-Chinese character dictionary Hanyu Da Cidian defines it as "present food or
provisions" for the xì pronunciation but also lists 23 meanings for the qì pronunciation.[11] The modern ABC Chinese-English
Comprehensive Dictionary, which enters xì 餼 "grain; animal feed; make a present of food", and a qì 氣 entry with seven
translation equivalents for the noun, two for bound morphemes, and three equivalents for the verb.

n. ① air; gas ② smell ③ spirit; vigor; morale ④ vital/material energy (in Ch[inese] metaphysics) ⑤ tone;
atmosphere; attitude ⑥ anger ⑦ breath; respiration b.f. ① weather 天氣 tiānqì ② [linguistics] aspiration 送氣
sòngqì v. ① anger ② get angry ③ bully; insult.[12]

English borrowing
Qi was an early Chinese loanword in English. It was romanized as k'i in Church Romanization in the early-19th century, as ch'i in
Wade–Giles in the mid-19th century (sometimes misspelled chi omitting the apostrophe), and as qi in Pinyin in the mid-20th
century. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for qi gives the pronunciation as IPA (tʃi), the etymology from Chinese qì "air;
breath", and a definition of "The physical life-force postulated by certain Chinese philosophers; the material principle." It also
gives eight usage examples, with the first recorded example of k'í in 1850 (The Chinese Repository),[note 1] of ch'i in 1917 (The
Encyclopaedia Sinica),[note 2] and qi in 1971 (Felix Mann's Acupuncture)[note 3]

Concept
References to concepts analogous to qi are found in many Asian belief systems. Philosophical conceptions of qi from the earliest
records of Chinese philosophy (5th century BCE) correspond to Western notions of humours, the ancient Hindu yogic concept of
prana. An early form of qi comes from the writings of the Chinese philosopher Mencius (4th century BCE).

Within the framework of Chinese thought, no notion may attain such a degree of abstraction from empirical data
as to correspond perfectly to one of our modern universal concepts. Nevertheless, the term qi comes as close as
possible to constituting a generic designation equivalent to our word "energy". When Chinese thinkers are
unwilling or unable to fix the quality of an energetic phenomenon, the character qi (氣) inevitably flows from
their brushes.

— Manfred Porkert[13]

The ancient Chinese described qi as "life force". They believed it permeated everything and linked their surroundings together. Qi
was also linked to the flow of energy around and through the body, forming a cohesive functioning unit. By understanding the
rhythm and flow of qi, they believed they could guide exercises and treatments to provide stability and longevity.

Although the concept has been important within many Chinese philosophies, over the centuries the descriptions of qi have varied
and have sometimes been in conflict. Until China came into contact with Western scientific and philosophical ideas, the Chinese
had not categorized all things in terms of matter and energy. Qi and li (理: "pattern") were 'fundamental' categories similar to
matter and energy.

Fairly early on, some Chinese thinkers began to believe that there were different fractions of qi—the coarsest and heaviest
fractions formed solids, lighter fractions formed liquids, and the most ethereal fractions were the "lifebreath" that animated living
beings.[14] Yuanqi is a notion of innate or prenatal qi which is distinguished from acquired qi that a person may develop over their
lifetime.
Philosophical roots
The earliest texts that speak of qi give some indications of how the concept developed. In the Analects of Confucius qi could
mean "breath".[15] Combining it with the Chinese word for blood (making 血氣, xue–qi, blood and breath), the concept could be
used to account for motivational characteristics:

The [morally] noble man guards himself against 3 things. When he is young, his xue–qi has not yet stabilized, so
he guards himself against sexual passion. When he reaches his prime, his xue–qi is not easily subdued, so he
guards himself against combativeness. When he reaches old age, his xue–qi is already depleted, so he guards
himself against acquisitiveness.

— Confucius, Analects, 16:7

The philosopher Mozi used the word qi to refer to noxious vapors that would eventually arise from a corpse were it not buried at
a sufficient depth.[16] He reported that early civilized humans learned how to live in houses to protect their qi from the moisture
that troubled them when they lived in caves.[16] He also associated maintaining one's qi with providing oneself with adequate
nutrition.[16] In regard to another kind of qi, he recorded how some people performed a kind of prognostication by observing qi
(clouds) in the sky.[16]

Mencius described a kind of qi that might be characterized as an individual's vital energies. This qi was necessary to activity and
it could be controlled by a well-integrated willpower.[17] When properly nurtured, this qi was said to be capable of extending
beyond the human body to reach throughout the universe.[17] It could also be augmented by means of careful exercise of one's
moral capacities.[17] On the other hand, the qi of an individual could be degraded by adverse external forces that succeed in
operating on that individual.[17]

Living things were not the only things believed to have qi. Zhuangzi indicated that wind is the qi of the Earth.[18] Moreover,
cosmic yin and yang "are the greatest of qi ".[18] He described qi as "issuing forth" and creating profound effects.[18] He also said
"Human beings are born [because of] the accumulation of qi. When it accumulates there is life. When it dissipates there is death...
There is one qi that connects and pervades everything in the world."[18]

Another passage traces life to intercourse between Heaven and Earth: "The highest Yin is the most restrained. The highest Yang is
the most exuberant. The restrained comes forth from Heaven. The exuberant issues forth from Earth. The two intertwine and
penetrate forming a harmony, and [as a result] things are born."[18]

The Guanzi essay Neiye (Inward Training) is the oldest received writing on the subject of the cultivation of vapor [qi] and
meditation techniques. The essay was probably composed at the Jixia Academy in Qi in the late fourth century B.C.[19]

Xun Zi, another Confucian scholar of the Jixia Academy, followed in later years. At 9:69/127, Xun Zi says, "Fire and water have
qi but do not have life. Grasses and trees have life but do not have perceptivity. Fowl and beasts have perceptivity but do not have
yi (sense of right and wrong, duty, justice). Men have qi, life, perceptivity, and yi." Chinese people at such an early time had no
concept of radiant energy, but they were aware that one can be heated by a campfire from a distance away from the fire. They
accounted for this phenomenon by claiming "qi" radiated from fire. At 18:62/122, he also uses "qi" to refer to the vital forces of
the body that decline with advanced age.

Among the animals, the gibbon and the crane were considered experts at inhaling the qi. The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu
(ca. 150 BC) wrote in Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals:[20] "The gibbon resembles a macaque, but he is larger,
and his color is black. His forearms being long, he lives eight hundred years, because he is expert in controlling his breathing."
("猿似猴。大而黑。長前臂。所以壽八百。好引氣也。")
Later, the syncretic text assembled under the direction of Liu An, the Huai Nan Zi, or "Masters of Huainan", has a passage that
presages most of what is given greater detail by the Neo-Confucians:

Heaven (seen here as the ultimate source of all being) falls (duo 墮, i.e., descends into proto-immanence) as the
formless. Fleeting, fluttering, penetrating, amorphous it is, and so it is called the Supreme Luminary. The dao
begins in the Void Brightening. The Void Brightening produces the universe (yu–zhou). The universe produces qi.
Qi has bounds. The clear, yang [qi] was ethereal and so formed heaven. The heavy, turbid [qi] was congealed and
impeded and so formed earth. The conjunction of the clear, yang [qi] was fluid and easy. The conjunction of the
heavy, turbid [qi] was strained and difficult. So heaven was formed first and earth was made fast later. The
pervading essence (xi–jing) of heaven and earth becomes yin and yang. The concentrated (zhuan) essences of yin
and yang become the four seasons. The dispersed (san) essences of the four seasons become the myriad creatures.
The hot qi of yang in accumulating produces fire. The essence (jing) of the fire-qi becomes the sun. The cold qi of
yin in accumulating produces water. The essence of the water-qi becomes the moon. The essences produced by
coitus (yin) of the sun and moon become the stars and celestial markpoints (chen, planets).

— Huai-nan-zi, 3:1a/19

Role in traditional Chinese medicine

The Huangdi Neijing ("The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine", circa 2nd century BCE) is historically credited with first
establishing the pathways, called meridians, through which qi circulates in the human body.[21][22][23]

In traditional Chinese medicine, symptoms of various illnesses are believed to be either the product of disrupted, blocked, and
unbalanced qi movement through meridians or deficiencies and imbalances of qi in the Zang Fu organs.[23] Traditional Chinese
medicine often seeks to relieve these imbalances by adjusting the circulation of qi using a variety of techniques including
herbology, food therapy, physical training regimens (qigong, t'ai chi ch'uan, and other martial arts training),[24] moxibustion, tui
na, or acupuncture.[23]:78

The nomenclature of Qi in the human body is different depending on its sources, roles, and locations.[25] For sources there is a
difference between so-called "Primordial Qi" (acquired at birth from one's parents) and Qi acquired throughout one's life.[25] Or
again Chinese medicine differentiates between Qi acquired from the air we breathe (so called "Clean Air") and Qi acquired from
food and drinks (so-called "Grain Qi"). Looking at roles Qi is divided into "Defensive Qi" and "Nutritive Qi".[25] Defensive Qi's
role is to defend the body against invasions while Nutritive Qi's role is to provide sustenance for the body. Lastly, looking at
locations, Qi is also named after the Zang-Fu organ or the Meridian in which it resides:[25] "Liver Qi", "Spleen Qi", etc.

A qi field (chu-chong) refers to the cultivation of an energy field by a group, typically for healing or other benevolent purposes. A
qi field is believed to be produced by visualization and affirmation. They are an important component of Wisdom Healing'Qigong
(Zhineng Qigong), founded by Grandmaster Ming Pang.[26][27][28]

Comparable concepts
Concepts similar to qi can be found in many cultures.

Religious beliefs
Prana in Hinduism and Indian culture, chi in the Igbo religion, pneuma in ancient Greece, mana in Hawaiian culture, lüng in
Tibetan Buddhism, manitou in the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. In Western philosophy, notions of energeia,
élan vital, or vitalism are purported to be similar.[29]
Some elements of the qi concept can be found in the term 'energy' when used in the context of various esoteric forms of
spirituality and alternative medicine.

Scientific view
Qi is a non-scientific, unverifiable concept.[4] A 1997 consensus statement on acupuncture by the United States National
Institutes of Health noted that concepts such as qi "are difficult to reconcile with contemporary biomedical information".[30]

The 2014 Skeptoid podcast episode titled "Your Body's Alleged Energy Fields" related a Reiki practitioner's report of what was
happening as she passed her hands over a subject's body:

What we'll be looking for here, within John's auric field, is any areas of intense heat, unusual coldness, a repelling
energy, a dense energy, a magnetizing energy, tingling sensations, or actually the body attracting the hands into
that area where it needs the reiki energy, and balancing of John's qi.[5]

Evaluating these claims, author and scientific skeptic Brian Dunning reported:

...his aura, his qi, his reiki energy. None of these have any counterpart in the physical world. Although she
attempted to describe their properties as heat or magnetism, those properties are already taken by – well, heat and
magnetism. There are no properties attributable to the mysterious field she describes, thus it cannot be
authoritatively said to exist.[5]

Practices involving qi

Feng shui
The traditional Chinese art of geomancy, the placement and arrangement of space called feng shui, is based on calculating the
balance of qi, interactions between the five elements, yin and yang, and other factors. The retention or dissipation of qi is believed
to affect the health, wealth, energy level, luck, and many other aspects of the occupants. Attributes of each item in a space affect
the flow of qi by slowing it down, redirecting it or accelerating it. This is said to influence the energy level of the occupants.

One use for a luopan is to detect the flow of qi.[31] The quality of qi may rise and fall over time. Feng shui with a compass might
be considered a form of divination that assesses the quality of the local environment.

Qigong
Qìgōng ( 气功 or 氣功) involves coordinated breathing, movement, and awareness. It is traditionally viewed as a practice to
cultivate and balance qi. With roots in traditional Chinese medicine, philosophy and martial arts, qigong is now practiced
worldwide for exercise, healing, meditation, and training for martial arts. Typically a qigong practice involves rhythmic
breathing, slow and stylized movement, a mindful state, and visualization of guiding qi.[32][33][34]

Martial arts
Qi is a didactic concept in many Chinese, Korean and Japanese martial arts. Martial qigong is a feature of both internal and
external training systems in China[35] and other East Asian cultures.[36] The most notable of the qi-focused "internal" force (jin)
martial arts are Baguazhang, Xing Yi Quan, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Southern Praying Mantis, Snake Kung Fu, Southern Dragon Kung
Fu, Aikido, Kendo, Hapkido, Aikijujutsu, Luohan Quan, and Liu He Ba Fa.
Demonstrations of qi or ki are popular in some martial arts and may include the unraisable body, the unbendable arm, and other
feats of power. Some of these feats can alternatively be explained using biomechanics and physics.[37]

Acupuncture and moxibustion

Acupuncture is a part of traditional Chinese medicine that involves insertion of needles into superficial structures of the body
(skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscles) at acupuncture points to balance the flow of qi. This is often accompanied by moxibustion, a
treatment that involves burning mugwort on or near the skin at an acupuncture point.

Taoist sexual practices

See also
Aether (classical element) Orgone
The All Prana
Aura (paranormal) Reiki
Chakra Pneuma
Dantian Geist
Esoteric healing Mana
Livity (spiritual concept) Spirit

Notes
1. Quoting Confucius that the Taiji or "Great Extreme is the primordial substance (k'í) which, moving along, divided
and made two k'í; that which in itself has motion is the Yang, and that which had rest .‥ is the Yin."
2. The essence of the ethical principle Li "is absolutely pure and good, but seeing that it is inseparable from the
material element Ch'i.‥ it is from Man's birth to a greater or less extent impeded and tainted."
3. "To the ancients the cornerstone of the theory of acupuncture, the concept whereby they explained its effects and
action, was Qi, the energy of life."

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7547507391.
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Further reading
Wright, Thomas; Eisenberg, David (1995). Encounters with Qi: Exploring Chinese medicine (https://archive.org/d
etails/encounterswithqi00eise_0). New York: Norton hi. ISBN 978-0-393-31213-3. OCLC 32998368 (https://www.
worldcat.org/oclc/32998368).
Powers, John. (1995). Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. p. 591. ISBN 978-
1-55939-282-2.

External links
Article by Bing YeYoung "A Philosophical and Cultural Interpretation of Qi" (https://web.archive.org/web/2007070
4155659/http://www.literati-tradition.com/qi_breath.html)
The Skeptics Dictionary (http://www.skepdic.com/chi.html)
Qi Encyclopedia (http://qi-encyclopedia.com)

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